Description: The overall and overarching goal of the proposed studies is the development of fundamental understanding necessary for preparing peptide/biocompatible polymer macromolecular complexes as 21st-century biofunctional materials. In order to accomplish this goal, a detailed understanding of the forces necessary for the formation of stable model peptide/biocompatible polymer complexes will be developed. The forces contributing to the formation of stable complexes are a combination of ion-dipole, hydrophobic and H-bonding interactions, and will be elucidated by using 2-D NOESY NMR spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and light scattering studies in a complementary fashion. Additionally, the current understanding of the formation of stable model peptide/poly(ethylene oxide)(PEO) complexes will be applied to the development of stable PEO/arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) complex as a bioadhesive extracellular material. The preliminary bioadhesive properties of the PEO/RGD macromolecular complexes will be determined by studying adherence of cells to thin films of the complexes. The adhesive interaction of synthetic extracellular material will find application in controlled and targeted drug delivery to specific organ or cell via a "key and lock" mechanism.